Transcriptional activities of the microbial consortium living with the marine nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium Trichodesmium reveal potential roles in community-level nitrogen cycling.

Transcriptional activities of the microbial consortium living with the marine nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium Trichodesmium reveal potential roles in community-level nitrogen cycling. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2017 Oct 20;: Authors: Lee MD, Webb EA, Walworth NG, Fu FX, Held NA, Saito MA, Hutchins DA Abstract Trichodesmium are globally distributed cyanobacteria whose nitrogen-fixing capabilities fuel primary production in warm, oligotrophic oceans. Like many photoautotrophs, Trichodesmium serve as hosts to various other microorganisms, yet little is known about how this associated community modulates fluxes of environmentally relevant chemical species into and out of the supraorganismal structure. Here we utilized metatranscriptomics to examine gene-expression activities of microbial communities associated with Trichodesmium erythraeum (strain IMS101) using laboratory-maintained enrichment cultures that have previously been shown to harbor similar microbial communities to those of natural populations. In enrichments maintained under two distinct CO2 concentrations for ∼8 years, community transcriptional profiles were found to be specific to treatment, demonstrating a restructuring of overall gene expression had occurred. Some of this restructuring involved significant increases in community respiration-related transcripts under elevated CO2 - potentially facilitating corresponding measured increases in host nitrogen-fixation rates. Par...
Source: Applied and Environmental Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: Appl Environ Microbiol Source Type: research